Careers & Student Destinations
At Harris, we have a team of expert career advisers, who work across the Federation and build a close relation with the academies where they are placed. They provide advice and guidance to our students from Year 7 onwards, in accordance with the Gatsby Benchmarks and government statutory guidance. In addition, every academy has a career lead responsible for designing the career education curriculum for Year 7 to Year 13 inclusive.
The transition to Sixth Form begins in Year 9 and 10, with attention paid to our access policy. Students are shown a range of options for post 16 education, delivered through our tutor and assembly programmes, which includes visitors from nearby Sixth Form providers, the academy’s own Sixth Form team and apprenticeship providers, according to the students’ needs and interests. Parents are also encouraged to be closely involved.
Students choosing to study at a Harris Sixth Form are offered a wide range of career opportunities, as well as having access to one-to-one advice and guidance with their careers adviser in Year 12 and 13. Career advisers have an open door policy and are happy to sit with small groups who share a common career interest, or individuals seeking to understand their pathway options in more depth.
Broader opportunities include being selected for the Harris Experience Advanced programme for our highest attaining students, including our bespoke Oxbridge, medicine, dentistry and veterinary science programmes, as well as: a wide range of trips and visits to universities; seminar programmes and residentials; work places outside their academy; exposure to visitors from academia, apprenticeship providers and industry; alumni events; and compulsory work experience for every Year 12 in July.
In addition, Harris Careers runs Federation-wide online events, inviting in excess of 50 different employers and universities to talk to our students every year.
Every year, at least 4 in 5 our Sixth Form students go on to study at universities, more than twice the national average. In 2024, this included 47 students progressing to Oxbridge, over 55 students progressing to medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, and 1/4 going on to Russell Group universities (1.5x the national rate).
A third of our students progress to ‘top third’ universities. Those who don’t choose this pathway have had great success securing apprenticeships, including over 200 confirmed apprenticeships placements at top companies such as Deloitte, Google and Goldman Sachs, or taking up training schemes and work. We track all destinations and keep in touch with our students over many years, through the Harris Futures website . Students who choose to take a year out after leaving our Sixth Form are always supported when it comes time to make applications.
You can find out more about our careers provision by following this link: www.harriscareerseducation.org.uk